Senator Baucus' Trivialized "Facts"

at 12:14 PM Friday, May 22, 2009
"It's time for us to face the facts regarding Cuba," [U.S. Senator Max] Baucus [of Montana] said in a statement. "It's a fact that Cuba is one of our closest export markets ... and it's a fact that our farmers and ranchers in Montana -- and across the United States -- need help selling their high-quality products in Cuba."
 
No, Senator Baucus, here are the facts about Cuba:
 
The [Cuban] government continued to deny its citizens their basic human rights and committed numerous, serious abuses. The government denied citizens the right to change their government. At year's end there were at least 205 political prisoners and detainees. As many as 5,000 citizens served sentences for "dangerousness," without being charged with any specific crime. The following human rights problems were reported: beatings and abuse of detainees and prisoners, including human rights activists, carried out with impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, including denial of medical care; harassment, beatings, and threats against political opponents by government-recruited mobs, police, and State Security officials; arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights advocates and members of independent professional organizations; denial of fair trial; and interference with privacy, including pervasive monitoring of private communications. There were also severe limitations on freedom of speech and press; denial of peaceful assembly and association; restrictions on freedom of movement, including selective denial of exit permits to citizens and the forcible removal of persons from Havana to their hometowns; restrictions on freedom of religion; and refusal to recognize domestic human rights groups or permit them to function legally. Discrimination against persons of African descent, domestic violence, underage prostitution, trafficking in persons, and severe restrictions on worker rights, including the right to form independent unions, were also problems.  
 
2008 State Department Report on Human Rights